1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garden shears, and, more particularly, to garden shears that utilize an interactive relationship between the slidable member and the engagement set, in which the slidable member is able to slide along a straight line to reduce static friction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art garden shears, as shown in FIG. 6, are composed of upper and lower gripping handles 50,60 that are pivoted together, and also includes a spring 51. The spring 51 is disposed between the upper and lower gripping handles 50,60 and is used for pushing apart the upper and lower gripping handles 50,60, thereby biasing apart a blade base 52 and a blade 61. The upper gripping handle 50 has a pawl 53 located at the pivot position, and an axle aperture 531 of the pawl 53 is jacketed with a torsion spring 54. One end of the pawl 53 has a pushing surface 532, and a tongue 533 and a stop end 534 are formed on two sides of the pawl 53. The lower gripping handle 60 has a locking ratchet 62 corresponding to the pawl 53. When the blade base 52 and the blade 61 need to be closed together, a user grips and presses the upper and lower gripping handles 50,60 together so the blade base 52 and the blade 61 are closed together; the user then pushes the pawl 53 on the pushing surface 532 so the tongue 533 of the pawl 53 set within the ratchet slot 62 of the lower gripping handle 60. With the torsion spring 54 pushing against the tongue 533 of the pawl 53, the blade base 52 and the blade 61 are kept closed.
Based upon the above, certain drawbacks may easily occur as discussed in the following:
1. The upper gripping handle 50 is pivoted to the pawl 53, and the tongue 533 of the pawl 53 pushes against the locking ratchet 62 of the lower gripping handle 60. The pawl 53 swings around the axle aperture 531 and the pushing surface 532 slides in an arc-shaped path, which increases the static friction and makes the engagement movement more difficult.
2. The torsion spring 54 is disposed on the axle aperture 531 of the pawl 53, and one end of the torsion spring 54 is limited to an inside edge of the upper gripping handle 50 while the other end pushes against the stop end 534 of the pawl 53 to push the pawl 53 into the locking ratchet 62 of the lower gripping handle 60. However, in operation, if the pawl 53 is too loose, it may be pushed by the torsion spring 54 and move into the locking ratchet 62 of the lower gripping handle 60, which can cause difficulties during operation.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide garden shears to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.